Digimon Adventure: Iliad
by Digital Daze
Summary: Separated from the Digital World we all know, there is another server known as Iliad, a world where myths and legends come to life. In the wake of a crisis, new champions are summoned to Iliad to face the impending danger that threatens all worlds. (SYOC closed)
1. Prologue

There was a mountain that reached beyond the clouds, taller than any in the Real World or the Digital World. And at the very peak of the mountain was a temple carved from pure-white stone that seemed to glow with no apparent light source. The temple resembled the dwellings of ancient Greek sanctuaries where humans would come to worship their gods. Sturdy columns as thick as tree trunks lined the outside of temple and marble statues of various Digimon standing guard over the entrance.

Inside the temple were twelve enormous seat – six on each side facing each other – that resembled thrones made from the same white marble as the rest of the temple, but each seat was branded with an emblem made of solid gold. Each emblem represented an animal such as a lion, a rabbit, a snake, a bird, and so forth along with a stylized "XII" above each one. And in the very back of the temple was a monolithic mural that was carved from black stone, creating a stark contrast from the rest of the dwelling. The mural was difficult to decipher as it looked to have been smashed repeatedly by a combination of claws and sharp instruments, but it seemed like several warrior-like creatures were fighting off a beast many times their size, engaging what could only be a blood-filled battle.

However, the temple looked remarkably lifeless. The thrones appeared to have been untouched for many years, maybe even decades, based solely on the lingering traces of dust. Whoever it was that had once resided in this temple had long since left it.

And yet…one person lingered in the vast, empty dwelling.

He was many times smaller than anything in the temple, but he walked around the dwelling with his hands folded behind his back and smiled serenely as if it was where he belonged.

His appearance was distinctly human, but he had an aura around him that made him almost ethereal. His skin was so pale that it practically glowed, and his hair, which went down his backside and was tied in an elaborate braid, was a such a bright shade of blonde it was almost white. He dressed himself in a plain-white toga with many clothes of red and gold draped across his chest, crowning himself with a laurel wreath made of gold. He resembled a man of great importance, but when he reached out to touch the mural, the chains on the rusted metal bands around his wrists clattered loudly, echoing in the empty hall.

"How long has it been since the twelve had stood united?" the man spoke; his tone was flat and free of emotion. "Especially now, when we need them most."

A deep rumble reverberated throughout the hall; it sounded like it came from the temple itself.

"King Drasil has become more reckless as of late," said the man impassively. "First, he reboots his own server, sending Alphamon to do his bidding, and then there was that Ordinemon debacle. And the entire time, Homeostasis was running around trying to absolve the situation like a chicken with its head cut off."

The temple rumbled again.

"Yes, thank the twelve that the children interfered when they did, or who knows what could have happened," said the man. He turned away from the mural and walked into the center of the temple. "It has been said that Homeostasis shut down King Drasil when the crisis was over, but it is foolish to believe such a thing."

The temple rumbled again, sound deeper than before.

"Yes, I agree," said the man. "King Drasil has appeared in many forms across multiple realities, plotting and scheming. All Homeostasis did was remove the version that was plaguing that world, but there are still many others waiting in the wings. And who knows how long it will be until they carry out their vow."

Another rumble.

"Once King Drasil gathers his Knights, he will lead them across the Server Realm into Iliad," said the man, showing the first hint of emotion as he frowned. "And without the Twelve to meet them, I fear that Iliad will be doomed to crumble under King Drasil's siege."

The temple rumbled again and the holy-looking man stared up at the ceiling with his brows raised.

"Champions? Like the ones in King Drasil's server?" asked the man curiously. "Are you certain? I do not think it would be wise to draw _children _into Iliad, especially with Drasil's agents watching over that world – " The temple rumbled again and the man touched his chin thoughtfully. "True, there are other realities to choose from. Versions of Earth that haven't come into contact with the Digital Multiverse. But to do that, we would have to start from scratch – "

The temple rumbled deeper than it had ever done and the holy man immediately shut his mouth and bended at the waist into a deep bow.

"Of course, as you wish…Homeros," he said.

There was no response this time; the temple had gone still and quiet. The Greek-garbed man stood erect, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds before he came to conclude that the higher being was no longer there. He took a deep breath through the nose and turned back around, facing the broken mural with a conflicted look in his eyes, uncertain thoughts passing through his mind as he traced the characters on the wall.

"I certainly hope they're ready…whoever those unfortunate souls may be.

* * *

**I've always liked SYOC stories, but these days they're always about the same categories: My Hero Academia, Total Drama, Dangan Ronpa, Selection Trilogy and so forth. And I thought to myself, why aren't there anything about Digimon. There are literally thousands of possibilities with deeper lore that haven't even been explored yet, so I thought to myself, why not make one for myself. And then, somehow, this happened. This will be the first time I wrote an SYOC, so I can't guarantee if I get everyone's characters just right, but I'll do my best.**

**The total cast will be eight characters, but two of them will be my own creations, so I'm accepting six characters. The current characters are:**

Sam Lionheart – American – Coronamon

Celine Lièvre – French – Lunamon

**And here are a few rules you need to know before submitting:**

**1) You must ABSOLUTELY send them only through PM. If you send a character over via review, I will ignore it. In order to keep them organized, please title the message as followed: ****Digimon Adventure: Iliad - ****(Character Name) – (Digimon Partner)**

**2) Fill out the ENTIRE form. I will be looking to see if any details have been skipped over.**

**3) Be as descriptive as possible when submitting your character. That will give you a better chance of being selected over characters who only have a few short sentences.**

**4) Try to keep the character from being morbid, or depressing, or having some kind of dark background. I don't mind if characters have a little edge to them, but too many times I've seen people go overboard with things like dead parents or growing up with terrible lives like that. It's cliché and doesn't match the lighter tone I want to set with these characters.**

**5) When choosing partners, if possible, try to using Digimon that haven't already been used by characters in the shows. That means no Agumon, No Veemon, no Guilmon, and so forth. If you still want to use those Digimon, that's fine, but they have a smaller chance of being picked.**

**So, with that out of the way, here is the form:**

**Adventurer**

Name:

Nickname(s):

Gender:

Sexuality:

Age: (10-16)

Ethnicity/Nationality: (Very important; I want the cast to be as diverse as possible)

Hometown:

Appearance: (The more description, the better your chances)

Clothing:

Items/Accessories:

Skills/talents:

Personality: (This is the most important part. This is what I will be basing the character off of, so give them as much depth as possible.)

Likes:

Dislikes:

Hobbies/Habits:

Quotes: (To give an idea of how they talk)

Background (This is just as important as the personality. I want at least a full paragraph or more detailing what you think are the most important parts of the character's history)

Family:

Who would be their friends:

Who would be their enemies:

Love interest: (Would you want your character to have a love interest? If so, what type of person would that be?)

Plot points: (optional)

Extra: (If you think there is something I should know about the character that wasn't in the form, feel free to tell me here.)

**Digimon Partner**

In-Training Form:

Rookie Form:

Champion Form:

Ultimate Form:

Mega Form:

Preferred form: (When they reach a certain level, which form do they like to stay in? Rookie? Champion? Ultimate?)

Personality:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Habits/Hobbies:

Quotes:

Fighting style:

Extra: (Anything unique about them I should know about?)


	2. Into a New World

**I want to apologize for everyone for the time it has taken to get this up. I had started working on it a while ago, but then I found out my brother, who lives on the other side of the country, was hospitalized for several days before he died. I was not in the right state of mind to work on this and put it off for a long time. But now, I hope to push on and at least get through the first arc of this story before I decide what to do from here on. And I hope you will join me long enough to see it through.**

**All right, enough sad talk, here's the first chapter.**

* * *

**File #1: Into a New World**

A sunny day in downtown Brooklyn was the perfect thing to kick off the first day of summer vacation in Sam opinion. No more studying, no more hair-tearing exams, no more getting pulled by the ear by a teacher when he fell asleep in the middle of a lecture. Just ten weeks of spending the day doing whatever he wanted without someone nagging him for it. And the thing he wanted to do today was try to beat his best friend, Jamal, in a game of basketball. The key word here being 'try'.

Sweat was dripping profusely down Sam's brow, catching his breath after having run up and down the neighborhood court for the past three hours, while his best friend didn't seem even the least bit winded.

It wasn't fair in Sam's mind. Jamal was a tall, athletic African-American boy who had played varsity for their school for three years, while Sam was a full head and shoulders shorter than him with thin, gangly limbs compared to his Hercules-like muscles. Sam ran a hand through her short, shoulder-length orangish-red hair, which was drenched in his sweat; his bright-orange t-shirt with the elaborate golden lion decal was sticking uncomfortably to his chest and the jean shorts held up by the leather belt were riding in his unmentionable region. His feet were throbbing inside his black-and-orange high tops, and, quite honestly, the black fingerless gloves weren't helping as much as he thought they would.

As Sam leaned forward, resting against his knees, a long shadow fell over him, and the redheaded boy tilted his head back, staring up at his best friend's cocky smirk.

"So, that's like, what, eight games to me?" said Jamal haughtily, dribbling the ball right in front of Sam, practically tempting him to take it. "Aaand…remind me, how many games have you won so far?"

"You…just got…lucky…," Sam wheezed.

"Luck ain't got nothing to do with it, my brother," said Jamal confidently, now spinning the ball on his finger just to show off. "You just ain't got the skills to pay the bills. Maybe with a little practice, you _miiight _win at least one game…if I broke both my legs and went blind," he concluded with a teasing smirk before casually banking a three-point shot.

"Yeah, keep talking, LeBron James," said Sam, taking a deep breath through the nose and standing up straight. "I'm just getting my second wind. We're not leaving this court until I kick your butt."

"Then we should start picking out tombstones," said Jamal taunted.

"Har, Har, go get the ball, you dweeb," said Sam, rolling his eyes in a joking way.

Jamal ruffled Sam's hair, knowing it annoyed him, before pacing himself to the other side of the court to retrieve the basketball. Sam stretched his arms over his head, cracking his stiffened joints, when he heard a cellphone going off on the sidelines. He turned toward the benches where he and Jamal had set their duffel bags down, recognized the ringtone, and saw that the pocket of his black vest-jacket was vibrating. Sam waved down his friend and shouted, "Hey, time out for a minute, got a call!"

"If that's your sister, tell her I said hi," said Jamal as he picked ball up off the ground, sounding almost eager about it.

"Dude, I am not telling my twin sister that you said 'hi'," Sam retorted with an annoyed expression. "And for that matter, stop trying to hit on my _twin sister_! It's, like, ultra-weird!"

"I can't help it, man – she's hot," Jamal admitted.

"I could have gone my whole life without ever hearing you say that," Sam grumbled.

Jamal just shrugged his shoulders and went back to taking free throws. Sam quickly paced over to the benches and picked up his vest, digging around the pocket top retrieve his orange smart phone. She turned the screen on and his brow rose curiously. The notification said he received a text message, but there as no name or even a phone number to tell where it came from. The only thing he could tell from the message was that the subject was about something called "**Iliad**". Sam should have just sent it to the spam box – he knew he should have – but an inkling of curiosity welled up in the back of his mind. He hesitated for a few second before deciding that there was probably no real harm in checking it out.

Sam tapped the notification and opened up the mailbox app, looking over the new message that had popped on the screen:

_**Gods have fallen  
Darkness is rising  
Reunite the twelve  
You have been chosen  
Iliad awaits**_

"…Is this some kind of new Haiku or something?" said Sam strangely. "Whatever…."

Just as his thumb hovers over the trash button to delete the message, Sam is taken aback when his smartphone screen suddenly starts to light up. He is forced to shut his eyes by the strength of the glow and nearly calls out to Jamal when he feels his feet leave the ground. It felt like something had latched onto his navel as he was lurched forward, straight into his phone's screen. A strange tingling sensation washed over him and –

He was gone. The light quickly dimmed just as suddenly as it started; Sam's smartphone clattered on the pavement, cracking the screen. Jamal, who heard the rattling, spun around toward the source. He first noticed his best friend's broken smartphone lying uselessly on the sidelines, and the fact that his best friend, who had been standing there seconds ago, was nowhere to be seen.

"Sam?" Jamal called out uncertainly. "Buddy? Where'd you go…?"

* * *

He doesn't know how long he had been unconscious, or why he had been knocked out in the first place, but when Sam started to come around, the back of his head throbbed painfully. Grumbling under his breath, Sam slowly opened his eyes, but winced and raised his hand to shield himself from the blinding rays of the sun looming overhead. Sam laid there for a few moments before slowly pulling himself into a sitting position. He tenderly touched the back of his head, which was still sore under his fingertips.

"Ugh…did anyone get the license plate off that truck?" said Sam, grimacing. "Hey, Jamal, you see what happened? …Jamal?"

Sam looked around for his best friend, not only realizing that he wasn't anywhere nearby, but he always wasn't in downtown Brooklyn anymore.

For some reason, Sam had found himself sitting in the middle of what looked to be a ruin street in the middle of a bunch of ancient-looking ruins. The road was made up of very solid dirt and scattered amounts of concrete blocks ("That explains the headache," said Sam) and either side was surrounded by low walls that looked to have been broken off from larger structures. Down the road, he could make out the faint outlines of tree tops in the distance, and to his right, a massive mountain loomed overhead like a towering sentinel – it looked bigger than Mt. Everest, in Sam's mind. As he scanned the area to his left, Sam spotted vest-jacket plopped on the ground next to him…and something was floating on top of it.

Sam could only describe it as a little orange spike ball that resembled a crayon sun that Sam used to draw in kindergarten, including the big black eyes and wide smiley face. Though the little flame on top of its head was a nice touch.

A long pause passed between them. Sam blinked owlishly…the little sun blinked back.

"…Okay…so there's a little cartoon sun floating over my clothes," said Sam slowly. "There's only one logical explanation for this…I've finally gone crazy. I always though it would happen in my fifties."

"You're not going crazy," said the little sun happily. "I'm Sunmon. It's nice ta finally meet ya, Sam."

Sam stared at the little sun in silence, his eyes growing wider after hearing the strange creature speak. Very slowly, Sam reached for both of his cheek and pulled them in either direction as far as they could stretch. It was excruciatingly painful on top of his headache. When he let go, his cheeks were red from the severe pinching and looked back at Sunmon; the creature was still there.

"Okay, so not a dream," said Sam. "But it's still possible that I've lost my mind."

"You haven't gone crazy, Sam!" Sunmon shouted gleefully, suddenly shooting forward and throwing himself into Sam's hands. "You're just as sane as I am!"

"That doesn't fill me with confidence," mumbled Sam. "So…who are you, exactly?"

"I told you, I'm Sunmon!" Sunmon announced cheerfully. "I've been waiting a long time for ya to show up, Sam, and you're finally here! That's so great!"

"Sunmon?" said Sam, confused. "You've been…waiting for me? But…how did you know I was even coming? And how do you even know my name?"

Sunmon opened his mouth to say something when they both heard a sudden noise to their left. Both human and…whatever Sunmon was…looked in that direction, both of them listening closely. A soft series of scuffing sounds were coming the other side of the low wall; it sounded like footsteps.

Sam slowly picked up his vest, put it on, and stepped quietly over to the wall, putting a finger to his lips to indicate that Sunmon should be quiet; the little sun nodded in response. When they were against the wall, the footsteps suddenly stopped. Cautiously, Sam started to raise his head to peek over the wall…and found himself going cross-eyed as he stared at the sharp end of a sword pointed at the bridge of his nose. He instinctively shouted out, unconsciously throwing Sunmon into the air (the little creature floated safely) and fell backwards on his butt. Not a second later, someone hopped over the wall like a professional parkour athlete and landed in front of Sam, the tip of their sword pointed at his nose.

The wielder of the sword, Sam quickly realized, was a beautiful girl around his age with flawless pale skin and curtain of golden blonde hair reaching her waist, held in place by a royal-blue hairband with a little blue bow on the side. She donned a long white dress that stopped short of her knees, embroidered with icy-blue snowflake around the hem, underneath a denim jacket with a golden badge on her breast bearing a fleur-de-lis. She wore formfitting black tights underneath her dress, a pair of polished black shoes, and pair of white gloves. While her left hand was gripped around the handle of the curved sword pointed at Sam, her other hand was wrapped around a black scabbard.

Sam was torn between complimenting her beauty and begging her not to stab him.

"Who are you?" the beautiful girl questioned harshly. "What is this place? Did you bring me here? Answer!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't ask me – I'm as clueless as you are!" Sam squeaked, flailing his hands wildly. "I was playing basketball with my friend one minute, then I get a weird text message, and then all of a sudden, I woke up here!"

"A strange text," said the girl thoughtfully. "Did this text say anything about gods, and darkness, and something called Iliad?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what it said before I got sucked into my phone," said Sam, his eyes still on the sword's tip.

"Then it appears we are in the same boat," said the girl. "I, too, received a strange message before arriving in this strange land."

"Great…so…would you mind getting your sword away from my nostrils?" asked Sam, trying to sound polite.

"It's called a sabre," said the girl indignantly, but nonetheless returned the blade to its scabbard. She offered her hand to Sam, which he gratefully accepted. "I was practicing with my instructor when I received the message. Thank goodness I held onto it when I did, considering the strangeness of the situation."

"Strange doesn't even begin to cover it," said Sam lightly. "Oh, uh, I'm Sam, by the way. Sam Lionheart."

"And I am Celine Lièvre," said Celine with a polite curtsy.

"And I'm Sunmon!" Sunmon shouted, throwing himself into the conversation; Sam had almost forgotten about him. "Nice to meet ya, Celine!"

Celine's reaction was expected: she let out a frightened squeak and instinctively went for her sabre. Sam quickly grabbed Sunmon out of the air before she could pull the sword from its scabbard, held out his hand, and yelled, "Wait, hold up, it's okay! I don't think he's a bad guy!"

"You…found one of those things, too?" Celine asked curiously.

Sam looked at her with renewed interest, wondering what she meant by the statement, when something bounced to the top of the low wall behind Celine. Just like Sunmon, the new creature resembled something like a drop of water with wide black eyes and a smiley face. Celine seemed none too surprised when the little water drop bounced into her waiting arms and gave Sam and Sunmon a tiny bow.

"Greetings, new friends of Celine," said the water drop creature, its tone soft and polite. "I am Moonmon. It is a pleasure to make your acquittance."

"Sunmon? Moonmon?" Sam repeated strangely. "What? Is there a Starmon, too?"

"Yes, there is," Moonmon answered nicely.

"…That was a rhetorical question," Sam responded dryly.

"This…creature…has been following me ever since I woke up here," said Celine. "It somehow knew my name."

"Same thing with this little guy," said Sam, holding up Sunmon. He looked around for a moment and said, "Speaking of which, any idea where we are?"

"These are the Ruins of Agamemnon," said Moonmon. "Deep in the heart of the Troia Continent."

"Yeah, what she said," Sunmon added.

"That tells us very little," said Celine exasperatedly, turning Moonmon around to face her. "Where exactly are we. I have never heard of any of these places on Earth in my geography or history lessons?"

"Oh, that's because this isn't Earth," said Sunmon casually.

"Excuse me, what?" said Sam, nonplussed.

"He is correct," said Moonmon cordially. "You are no longer in the world you know as Planet Earth, but in another realm known as the Digital World. We had waited a long time for all of you to arrive, and now you have."

"Did you say 'all of us'?" asked Celine curiously.

"Hello…is anyone there…?" a soft, timid voice called from around the corner.

Sam and Celine turned in that direction; Sam felt he should be worried that Celine's first instinct was to drop Moonmon and go for her sabre. It's a good thing she didn't draw it, because the guy who came around the corner looked like he would have passed out if he found a sword pointed at his face.

He was equal in height with Celine, who was a few inchers taller than Sam and had an angular face that made him look almost feminine; the short, somewhat shaggy black hair that touched his shoulders only bolstered the idea. He was a red hoodie with a white rim around the edge of the hood, a pair of grayish jeans slightly torn around the knees held up by a leather belt with a silver buckle, a pair of black fingerless gloves and black boots with white laces to match them. It was Celine's keen eye that pointed out that the newcomer wore black nail polish and a black choker; Sam's mind immediately jumped to the Goth sterotype, but didn't say it out loud, because it was rude to jump to conclusions.

"H-Hello," the new said nervously. "Do you…um…do you know where I am. I'm uh…I'm kind of lost."

"Join the club," said Sam casually.

"Who are you?" Celine asked rudely, shooting him a look of mistrust.

"Oh, uh, I'm…Willow…. Willow MaClay…," Willow introduced himself anxiously.

"Hey, Willow," Sam greeted him kindly. "I'm Sam, and the grumpy one is Celine – "

"I'm not grumpy," Celine insisted.

"And these are our new friends, Sunmon and Moonmon," Sam introduced the little creatures at their feet, purposely ignoring Celine's glare.

"A pleasure to meet you," Moonmon said politely.

"How's it goin'," said Sunmon.

"Oh, more strange creatures," said Willow, suddenly looking more relaxed as he addressed the strange creatures than he did with Sam or Celine. "I found one of those, too, when I woke up. He knew my name, which was very strange. Hey, Babydramon, can you come over here, please?" Willow turned and called out.

Babydramon, it turned out, really lived up to its name as another strange creature flapped over the low wall and joined Willow by his side. It definitely resembled a tiny green dragon with stubby black horns and a wispy tail. Babydramon turned its head to the other human with a wide grin.

"Hey, you found more humans," said Babydramon enthusiastically. "Neat. That makes three now."

"That thing is called…Babydramon?" said Sam, tilting his head curiously. "Kinda on the nose, don't you think?"

"It looks like a little dragon, is it also one of them?" said Celine curiously looking down at Sunmon and Moonmon.

But then, completely out of the blue, something rocketed in the space between the three humans, nearly knocking them over with air pressure it created. Celine did draw her sabre this time and raised it in a defensive stance as her eyes followed the strange creature that was flying over the ruins before doing a U-turn and flying back around. As strange as the other three creatures were, it was a bit jarring to see a living missile shooting around the sky with a pair of robotic arms at its sides and a blue arrowhead-like face with two gleaming red eyes. Celine tried swinging at the weapon-like monster, but the missile beast curved underneath her sabre and flew completely past her, kicking up a huge gust of wind in its wake. Willow ducked behind Sam, who in turn ducked behind Celine, who held her sabre overhead as the missile curved back around –

"_Attention!_" A tiny voice screamed.

Without warning, the missile monster completely stopped dead in the air, just before Celine swiped her sword down, narrowly missing its arrowhead by inches. Sam watched with interest as the missile creature turned robotically in the air, flew to the other side of the street, and hovered at the top of the low wall, waiting. The three humans barely exchanged mystified looks when a pair of small hands grabbed the edge of the low wall and someone pulled themselves up to stand on top, fists on their hips with a stern look.

Sam was taken aback when he realized how _young _their new party member was. While Willow, Celine, and himself were teenagers, this little girl looked like she had only just reached the double digits. At full height, she only came up to Sam's elbow, who was the shortest of the gathered teenagers. Her skin was even paler than Celine's and her blonde hair was a brighter shade that it almost looked white, but Sam could only see the fringes because her head was covered by an army helmet. She wore a buttoned-up maroon shirt underneath an army-green flak jacket with a nametag on the left side, but Sam couldn't read because it was written in Russian. She also had a pair of dirt-brown padded gloves, a black skirt, and a pair of army boots.

It's just a guess, Sam thought sarcastically, but she might be an army brat.

"Private Missimon, report!" The little girl commanded the flying creature, obviously trying to sound tough, but her voice was so high-pitched that it just sounded cute.

"Three new unidentified humanoid lifeforms and three digital monsters have been located, Captain Polyakov, sir!" Missimon reported with a salute.

"I'm a girl!" said the little Russian.

"Yes, ma'am!" Missimon corrected.

"Uh, excuse me," Sam spoke up, drawing their attention. "But…who are you?"

"Oh, how rude of me," said the little Russian, though she still held a haughty look. "I am Captain Misha Polyakov! I have been on activate duty for ten years and I am a proud defended of the motherland! Glory to Mother Russia!"

"Well, aren't you just the cutest little thing," said Celine with a soft, sincere smile as she holstered her sabre.

That was apparently not what Misha wanted to hear as the ten-year-old army brat went red in the face, flailed her arms dramatically, and whined, "I'm not cute, I'm tough! My daddy says I'm the toughest soldier in the Siberian tundra!"

"That is so adorable," Sam teased.

"WAAH! I'm not adorable!" Misha cried. She jumped off the wall, ran at Sam, and started beating him with her tiny fists, but Sam hardly felt anything. "Take that back, you meanie!"

"Okay, okay, you're a big tough soldier," Sam conceded, chuckling while patting her helmet. Misha puffed out her cheek in the most adorable way and turned away from him with her arms crossed, pouting. "So you got sent here, too, huh? Wonder how many more of us there are."

"If you include me, that makes five," a new voice joined the conversation.

At this point, Sam stopped being surprised and started to think the whole thing was becoming monotonous as yet _another _teenager scaled over the nearby low wall and hopped down next to Willow, who backed away with a nervous yelp. The boy had a lean build that looked suitable for running with rich-copper skin that contrasted with Celine and Misha's pale tones. His hair was a mess of unruly black hair and had a gold earring on an Egyptian ankh on his left ear. He wore a sleeveless white hoodie with pair of leather straps crisscrossing across his chest, khaki-color cargo pants, a pair of regular sneakers. He was carrying a messenger bag over his left shoulder…and was carrying yet _another _of these creatures that seemed to be popping all over the place.

Much like Sunmon and Moonmon, the new creature was just a head with fluffy blue fur and a pair of wing-like ear growing from the top of its head. Though Sam found it a little disconcerting that it's flaring-red eyes were crinkled in a mischievous sort of way.

"I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say you all got a weird text message, too, am I right?" said the new boy.

"That appears to be a common factor," said Celine, shooting him an untrusting look. "And you are?"

"Seth Essam, a humble street thief, if I do say so myself," said Seth with a cordial bow.

"You admit to being a thief?" asked Celine, frowning.

"I admit to many things, but a liar is not one of them," said Seth, sounding almost proud of his statement.

"Are you like Aladdin?" asked Sam curiously. "Like how your actually dirt poor and you need to steal to survive?"

"No, my family owns a successful farmland along the Nile," Seth admitted with a teasing tone. "I just do it for sport."

"Wow, you really are blunt about it, aren't you?" said Sam, sweatdropping.

"Disgraceful!" Misha shouted with authority. "A thief stealing for sport! Unacceptable! I swear on the glorious name of Mother Russia that I will see you thrown into Black Dolphin Prison, you miscreant – "

"Here, have a lollipop," Seth offered suddenly, pulling out the candy from his messenger bag.

Misha's hardened expression quickly shifted to delight with an excited squeal as she snatched up the sucker and started nibbling on it like an adorable little squirrel. All four teenagers couldn't help thinking how cute their little companion was.

"Um…excuse me," Willow suddenly spoke up, catching Seth by surprise, apparently having not noticed him standing there. "But um…who is that?" he asked, pointing to the blue fluffball under Seth's arm.

"Huh? Oh, this is…uh…," said Seth, looking down at the creature cluelessly.

"I'm Pagumon," aid the little fluffball.

"Okay, so there are five of us here and we each found our own, very weird, little monsters," said Sam. "Is there anyone else coming?"

Almost as if on command, a sharp, squawky kind of screech sounded from down the road, making everyone turn in alarm and Celine immediately went for her sabre. They were expecting to see another human, possibly one in danger from another strange creature, but as it turned out, it was the opposite. Another creature that resembled a baby chick with a long red ponytail was being chased by a teenage girl who was laughing herself silly while she pursued the monster.

The human girl was around Sam's level of height – _finally_, Sam thought – with chin-length tawny-brown hair that was parted to the right side by a golden hairclip. Sam liked to watch anime with his sister, so he knew what a shrine maiden was, and that was exactly what this girl was dressed as: long, scarlet divided trousers, a pure white kimono robe with billowing long sleeves, a pair of sandals, and a long necklace of black beads strung together with a wooden talisman. In anime, shrine maidens were usually portrayed as cool, calm and collected…this girl looked nothing like that.

By the time the chicken monster reached the group, the shrine maiden took a flying leap and tackled the poor creature from behind, sliding across the street on her belly, kicking up a cloud of dirt that made everyone choke. The girl soon rose to her knees and pressed the chicken monster into her chest with a happy squeal, unknowingly suffocating the poor creature in her embrace.

"Ooh, you so cute and _FLUFFY!_" she howled joyously. "I just wanna hug you forever!"

"Help…me…," the chicken monster choked.

"Uh, excuse me," Sam spoke up. The shrine maiden up, only just realizing there were others around. "You might want to loosen up a little. I think he's suffocating."

"Oops, my bad," said the shrine maiden, finally relenting; the chicken creature let out a dramatic gasp. She stood up, brushing the dirt off her uniform, and said, "Hi, I'm Miyata Kozoe, but my friends call me Miya."

"I'm Sam Lionheart," Sam introduced himself, offering his hand to shake. "That over there is Celine, Willow, Misha, and Seth. And those…things," he gestured to the unknown monsters grouped together, "Are Sunmon, Moonmon, Babydramon, Missimon, and Pagumon. Does you…whatever it is…have a name, too?"

"I…most certainly…do…," the chicken monster gasped between breathes. Taking a moment to collect himself, it coughed importantly into its wing and said, "I am Chicchimon, a balance-class holy species, and I – "

"Am so adorable!" Miya cooed, snuggling Chicchimon against her bosom again.

"If I might ask," said Celine with a curious expression, "why are you dressed in such a way. Is that some type of fashion where you are from?"

"What, no," Miya giggled. "This is my Miko uniform. I work part-time at my family's shrine Nachi-Katsuura. I was just sweeping the grounds when I got this weird text message."

"The one that said something about gods and 'Iliad awaits'?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Miya gasped surprisingly.

"…Lucky guess," Seth said after a stupefied pause.

"You all know what this place is, don't you?" Miya suddenly spoke with a serious expression, drawing everyone's interest. "It all makes sense when you think about it. The strange text message, the flash of light that brought us here, this odd new land that we have never seen before, these unknown creatures that have waited for our arrival and seem to know our names. There is only one reasonable explanation for all of this…."

The other unconsciously leaned closer, hanging on Miya's every word. Could it be that she knew the reason why they had all been summoned here? Could Miya actually –

"We've been taken to the spirit world!"

\- and they all fell flat on their faces.

"It's the only thing that makes sense!" Miya declared with firm commitment. "We have all been chosen by the spirits of the other world to embark on a grand quest, and they have sent these noble Yokai" – she held Chicchimon over her head – "to guide us in our sacred mission!"

Celine stood up, brushing herself off, turning to Sam with an exasperated look, and said, "Do you get the feeling that she's going to be a hassle?"

"I don't know, I think she's kinda interesting," Sam remarked.

"While I don't generally believe in 'spirits' or the afterlife, I do agree that we must have been called here for a reason."

Someone came up behind Miya and they nobody seemed to have noticed him until the shrine maiden had stepped to the side. Sam openly wondered if at some point they were going to run out of new kids as he looked over the newcomer that settled inside as the center of everyone's attention. He recognized the kid as Latino in origin with dark olive skin and semi-short dark hair with fringes that partially hanged over hiss droopy looking eyes. He wore a white t-shirt with a robot decal splashed in the front with italic words written in Spanish on the top and bottom, a pair of khaki cargo pants, black tennis shoes, and wore what looked like a smartwatch on his wrist. Like Seth, he was also carrying a bag over his shoulder, though this one more suitable for carrying a laptop.

And, unsurprisingly to everyone present, he was also traveling with a creature of unknown origin, which was riding on his right shoulder. It was super tiny in comparison to the rest of the monsters that had showed up, resembling something of a metal mouse with lightning bolt-shaped ears and glowing red eyes. A wire was raised up from its backside, occasionally discharging a quick spark that didn't seem too safe in Sam's opinion.

Celine sighed exasperatedly, rubbing the bridge of her nose, and muttered, "Great, another one shows up. Why do…ugh, never mind. Do you and your…friend have a name?"

"Gee, since you asked so nicely," the boy retorted sarcastically. "If you must know, my name is Luca Hernandez. And my friend, as you so eloquently called him," He gestured to the metal mouse on his shoulder, "says his name is Metalkoromon…. He doesn't really talk much. Honestly, he doesn't even move much, either. When I found him, he gave a quick introduction, climbed on me…and that's pretty much it."

"Well, aren't you lucky," Seth remarked, briefly looking up at Missimon, who was still flying restlessly around the air.

"Anyway, back to what I was saying," Luca continued as if he were continuing a conversation they already started, "all of us were summoned to this interesting world – "

"The spirit world!" Miya jumped in with conviction.

"…This interesting world," Luca brushed her off, "and there must have been a logical reason that we just don't understand yet, like some kind of a test or experiment. But the problem I am having difficulty understanding is what sort of an experiment it would entail. Usually, the test subjects would have to have something in common. But I can't fathom that there would be much that a sweaty American, a rich French girl, a Russian army brat, an Egyptian thief, a wallflower that is probably from the UK, a Japanese shrine maiden, and a Latino gearhead like myself would have in common. Any more than I can understand how seven kids from different cultures can communicate with each other so naturally."

"Huh, now that you mention it," Sam hummed interestingly. "I was wondering a French and a Russian girl knew English."

"What are you talking about?" said Celine with a raised brow. "You're the one speaking French."

"You guys are speaking Japanese to me," Miya stated with a curious stare.

"And all I hear is Spanish," Luca said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Whatever this world is, it seems to have affected us with a sort of…universal translator feature. Even though we're speaking different languages, we can all hear each other in our native tongue. This world just keeps getting more interesting by the minute."

"Interesting or not, we have no idea where we are, why we were brought here, or what these…," Celine glanced over at the gathered creatures, which now included Chicchimon and Metalkoromon, "weird creatures are."

"Stop calling us weird creatures!" Chicchimon snapped, frowning. "We're not weird!"

"Then what are you?" asked Willow curiously.

The tiny monsters looked at one another with amused smiled, faced their human counterparts, and spoke together in perfect unison:

"We're Digimon – Digital Monsters!"

"…I still don't get it," Miya voiced everyone's thoughts, tilting her head.

"Humans are always so slow on the uptake," said Pagumon snidely.

"I know it's a lot to understand, but you'll figure it out quick enough," said Moonmon understandingly.

"You kind need to if yer gonna survive Iliad," said Sunmon bluntly, which earned him a small headbutt from Moonmon. "Ow! What'd I say?"

"Wait…this is Iliad?" said Seth interestingly, tilting his head back to look toward the sky, which was a strange shade of blues, greens, and purples. "Like from the text message."

"Technically, this is the Troia Continent," Babydramon explained. "Iliad is the name of the server that this version of the digital world exists in."

"Server? Like a computer?" asked Luca, blinking owlishly. "Are you telling me we're inside a giant computer?"

"That is correct, sir!" said Missimon dutifully.

"Okay, I am seriously tripping out right now," said Sam, holding his head in his hands. "Digital world? Digital monsters? This is like something out of a bad cartoon."

"I was thinking more of an isekai anime," Miya quipped.

"All right, everyone calm down before we start loosing our heads," Celine said with an authoritative tone. "The fact of the matter we have no idea where we are or why we were brought here. So, until we can get a clearer idea of what our objective is and how we can get out of this…digital world, we need to keep our wits about ourselves and watch each other's backs."

"Yes! Rally the troops!" Misha cheered.

"Banding together might be the best option since we know next to nothing about…what is this place again?" asked Seth.

"Iliad," Sunmon answered helpfully.

"Yeah, that."

"Maybe…we should start looking around," Willow mumbled quietly. "See if there's anyone nearby…maybe even a town or a campsite we could find."

"That's probably a good idea – a lot better than waiting around for something to come get us," said Sam. With Sunmon floating over his shoulder, Sam brushed past Celine and started walking down the road. "Follow me, guys. Maybe we can see something by climbing the trees in that forest over there."

"Hey, I'm the captain, you should follow me!" Misha shouted, stomping after her American comrade.

"Cease and desist!" Missimon shouted after them.

Celine rubbed the bridge of her nose for what must have been the hundredth time in the last twenty minutes, silently cursing herself for ending up in this situation with these weirdos. Nonetheless, the French girl lifted Moonmon into her arms and gave chase after Sam and Misha. The rest of their motley crew followed behind; Seth, with Pagumon under his arm, stayed close to the French girl, which earned him a mistrustful look over her shoulder. Luca checked to make sure MetalKoromon was firmly on his shoulder before following, trying to ignore the Miya standing next to him, practically choking the life out of her Chicchimon. Willow stayed in the back of the group, having needed to be encouraged by Babydramon to move.

None of them had any idea how they got here, or why they were summoned in the first place, but they all agreed on one thing: this was going to be the longest, and shortest, summer vacation they ever had.

* * *

**Once again, sorry for the long wait, but I hope you understand that it was for personal reasons and I will try to do better in the future. I originally wrote this chapter to be longer, but I lost steam along the way and decided to wrap it up as an introductory chapter before moving ahead to the meatier parts of the story. I hope I stayed true to everyone's characters, and if you feel there are any problems with it, please let me know via PM so I don't make the same mistake again going forward. That being said, I am open to helpful criticism as long as it's not outright flaming – helping me learn from my mistakes will improve the quality of the story.**

**So until next time, please read and review.**


	3. Memorable First Encounters

**File #2: Memorable First Encounters**

Nearly an hour had passed (or whatever unit time is measured in this strange world) since seven children had received mysterious text messages and somehow found themselves in this new world, coming together one after another, bringing with them strange creatures calling themselves Digimon. They had left the ruins where they had gathered behind and headed for the nearby forest…but they were not the only thing wandering around the area.

A pair of quiet footsteps sounded as they rounded the corner, coming to the exact spot where Sam had first materialized into the Digital World. They stooped low to the ground, brushing their fingers across the dirt and gravel, letting them slide through their fingers. The newcomer hummed thoughtfully.

"One of them emerged here…and then more gathered soon after…," they murmured to themselves, looking around the area. "There were seven of them…but that can't be right…that's one short…. But it doesn't look like there was anyone else showed up…. And after they got together, they headed towards the woods…."

They stood up straight, looking in the direction of the forest where the humans went. Before they could consider their next move, they heard a loud crashing noise coming from the left. They saw a flock of bird Digimon fleeing the canopy as several trees shuddered from a distance, forming a direct path through the forest. They didn't like the direction that path was headed.

"Oh boy…," they muttered, sighing. "I hope those kids don't get into too much trouble…."

* * *

"Higher! Higher! I need a better vantage point!"

"I can't go any higher without breaking my neck."

Sam kept asking himself why he was always getting into these situations.

When he and the other six Chosen – that was the name Seth had coined for the group – had entered the forest, Sam had the idea to climb up the nearest tree and scout the terrain for any nearby cities or villages where they could find people to help. Unfortunately, when the word "scout" left his lips, Misha immediately asked – more like demanded – to climb up with him. Sam was going to argue against it, but the little Russian girl had already climbed on his shoulders like a blonde monkey and refused to get down, even gripping tufts of his hair in a surprisingly strong grip. With an annoyed groan, Sam reluctantly allowed it and started climbing the side of the nearest tree, which was made a lot more difficult due to carrying the unnecessary extra weight of a ten-year-old girl.

By the time they had reached the highest stable branch, Sam was exhausted – he needed to work out more. Thankfully, Misha hopped off his shoulders and seated herself securely on the branch, leaving enough room for Sam to have a seat. Gravity didn't seem to have the same effect in Iliad as it did in the real world because the branch didn't even bend despite two children sitting on it; Sam made a mental note to share this with the others. Misha opened up one of the pockets of her jacket and pulled out a pair of binoculars, peering through them and scanning the environment.

"You know," Sam piped up, "you have a Digimon partner that can fly. Why didn't you just ask him to carry you up instead of climbing on me?"

"…Silence!" Misha demanded after a moments pause. "I did it because I wanted to! And as your captain, I will not tolerate any insubordination, private!"

"Where does a ten-year-old learn to say these things," Sam muttered to himself while shaking his head. "Well then, 'Captain', whaddya see?"

"Hmm…a whole lot of trees," Misha said, concentrating. "That ginormous mountain is blocking everything that way…a couple of clearings here and there…maybe a hill or two…those are the ruins we just came from…wait, what's that?"

"What?" asked Sam.

"I thought I saw something black moving near the ruins," said Misha, frowning. "But it's not there anymore – probably just my imagination. Aaaaand, oh, there's a river over that way two klicks from here."

"That's good; that means we can find a fresh supply of clean water," said Sam. "Assuming any of the water in this world is drinkable. See if you can find anything else."

And while Sam and Misha were scouting from the trees above, the rest of the Chosen were clustered on the ground below them. While Sunmon and Missimon were staring up at their partners like a pair of dogs waiting for their masters to come home, Celine was pacing impatiently back and forth while Moonmon was bouncing next to her feet matching her rhythm, almost like a game. Willow was predictably in his own little secluded corner away from the others, clutching Babydramon like a support pillow. Seth looked bored as he leisurely leaned against the tree's roots, picking up rocks and tossing them in random directions in the forest while Pagumon watching beside him. Luca was sitting cross-legged on the ground, having pulled out his laptop trying to get it to boot up with MetalKoromon just sitting on his shoulder doing nothing.

Luca scowled in an annoyed way as he relentless tapped his laptop's keyboard, but the screen showed nothing but static. He slammed the computer shut with a frustrated groan and stuffed it in his bag.

"It's no use," said Luca, sighing exasperatedly. "For some place called the 'Digital World', it has lousy reception. No matter what I do, I can't find any wireless or broadband connection anywhere, and whatever exists in Iliad's atmosphere is causing a ton of electrical interference. At this point, the only thing my computer is useful for is a paperweight."

"That's not what I wanted to hear," Celine grumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry, Princess, but there's not much else I can do at this point," said Luca, frowning at her.

"Do you even understand the severity of the situation we're in?" Celine snapped. "We're trapped in some alien world – or server – or whatever this is – with no cellphones, no internets, and no way of contacting our homes. On top of all that, this world is apparently teeming with creatures called Digital Monsters, and I sincerely doubt they're all as cute and squishy as the ones we have met thus far."

"Hey, I'm not squishy – I'm just retaining holiday weight!" said Pagumon indignantly.

"Not the point, Pagumon," said Seth. "Look, Celine, was it? We're not going to get anywhere by biting each other's heads off. Once Sam and Misha come down from their reconnaissance, we'll figure out where we need to go and hopefully find someone that can tell us more about how we got here, and how to get back home. For now, we just need to stick together and look out for one another."

"Not exactly ideal, but it's better than nothing, I suppose," said Celine, taking a deep breath and rubbing the bridge between her nose. "Speaking of sticking together, has anyone seen where that Shrine Maiden has gone. It's too quiet around here."

"M-Miya said she was…was hungry," Willow stammered, looking away shyly from Celine's gaze. "S-She went into the – the woods w-with Chicchimon and hasn't…hasn't come back yet."

"So much for sticking together," said Luca sarcastically.

"Honestly, that girl is too free-spirited," Celine groaned.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tree, Misha roamed her gaze across the landscape until she let out a surprised yelp that made Sam jump, nearly causing him to fall out of the tree.

"What? What is it?" Sam shrieked, clinging to the tree trunk for dear life.

Rather than answer, Misha handed her the binoculars. Sam pressed them against his eyes and stared off in the direction where his Russian companion had been staring. It was faint, but off in the distance, just beyond the narrow river, Sam saw something rising above the tree that looked like –

"Smoke? Smoke means fire, and fire means – "

"There might be people making it!" Misha finished excitedly, practically bouncing on the branch.

"Or whatever constitutes for people in this freaky world," said Sam, looking thoughtful. "That doesn't look too far away. Er…let's see, going in that direction…if we follow the river…find some kind of landmark to know where we are…I guess that rock shaped like a giant penny will do…go a little further from that, and we should find wherever that smoke is coming from. If we leave now, we might get there before it turns dark. That's considering if this world even has a nighttime…. Huh…what's that?"

The American Chosen turns the binoculars towards the area closest to where they group was huddled, noticing that a flock of birds seemed to be fleeing from something. Peering closely, Sam spotted several trees shaking for some reason – something seemed to be running into them in a straight line…headed directly toward the Chosen. Sam was practically stamping the lenses of the binoculars into his eyes as he leaned forward as far as he could go, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever monster was big enough to rattle entire trees. The creature walked under a small patch cleared of any trees a few meters away from the chosen, when it suddenly stopped and looked around, as if sensing that it was being watched. The creatures stared directly at Sam, who gawped dumbfoundedly.

"Is that a – " Sam muttered slowly.

Before he could finish that thought, Sam watched as the monster grabbed a nearby tree and ripped it out of the ground by its roots. He could see the creature snarling at him before it threw the tree his way. Sam immediately dropped the binoculars and threw himself at Misha as he shouted, "Look out!"

Celine and the others snapped their heads up just in time to witness the projectile smash its way through the top of the tree where Sam and Misha had been. And speaking of whom, the American and Russian Chosen were freefalling back toward the ground at alarming speed. Sam instinctively pressed Misha protectively against his chest and turned them around so that he would hit the ground first, cushioning the fall for the ten-year-old. Thankfully, neither one of them hit because Missimon and Sunmon flew up to incept; Missimon grabbed Sam by the shoulders and Sunmon pushed his tiny body against the American's back to slow their descent. A moment later, Sam's feet gently touched the ground and the American Chosen let out a relieved sigh as he set Misha down – or at least would have if the tiny Russian girl wasn't clinging to him like a leech.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Sam said soothingly, rubbing circles on the girl's back. "We're safe now. Look."

Once the realization that they weren't falling sank in, Misha opened her eyes, blinking owlishly, then very slowly started to climb down. The little army brat said nothing, turning her back to Sam, and cleared her throat, trying to present an air of dignity about her.

"Er, right, yes, thank you, private," said Misha, trying to act cool. "You will be properly commended for your actions."

"Seriously, no ten-year-old should talk like that," said Sam, sweatdropping.

The rest of the Chosen ran over to meet them with a mixture of shock and concern. Naturally, the majority of the group flocked to Misha, checking her over worriedly, despite the youngest Chosen's embarrassed protests. Celine, on the other hand, made a beeline for Sam, who noticed that Celine's hand was firmly clenched around the handle of her sabre, ready to whip it out. She may have to soon enough, Sam thought.

"What happened? What was that crash?" asked Celine urgently.

"You're not going to believe this – well, actually, you might, considering…," said Sam, glancing at Sunmon and Moonmon who were huddled at their feet. "Anyway, we need to clear out of her, like, yesterday, before it finds us."

"Before what finds us?" asked Celine.

Any answer Sam had prepared was quickly stifled when they felt the ground shudder beneath their feet. The pair looked down as another tremor passed through, moving the rocks and leaves on the forest floor. The other Chosen looked up, spinning around wildly as the quakes became more powerful and the sounds of snapping trees punctured the air. The Digimon started acting strange – many of them seemed to be leering or growling at something unseen. Sam narrowed his eyes in concentration as a great shadow appeared through the trees, just before the trunks were snapped in half and a hulking monster stepped into the area, looming over the chosen.

The beast stood at twelve feet tall and resembled a giant bull man with leathery skin, curved horns, and a giant golden nose ring, though the zipper running down its chest made it seem more like cosplay. And while its right hand was normal, its left hand was replaced by a piece of machinery that looked like a jackhammer. When the monster saw the Chosen and their tiny Digimon partners, it let out a bellowing roar that shook the ground again, making everyone drop to their hands and knees.

"What is that thing?" Luca cried.

"That's Minotarumon!" yelled Pagumon. "A dark Digimon with strong Dark Side Power! He isn't the strongest or smartest Digimon, but he's one of the toughest there is! The shockwaves he generates from his Demon Arm are so powerful, no one has every escaped from them."

"Hey, quick question," Willow chimed in, somehow very calm despite the situation. "Why are we just standing around listening to an explanation when we should be running?"

"Wallflower makes a good point," said Seth. "Everyone, cheese it!"

They didn't need to be told twice. The Chosen jumped to their feet and full-on sprinted for the trees, stooping down to pick up their Digimon partners, except for Misha, who was being carried by Missimon. Watching them trying to make a break for it, Minotarumon howled like a mindless beast, raising its left arm to the air. Sam was sure he had imagined it, but he thought he heard the monster scream, "_**Darkside Quake!**_" as the machine on its arm started to pump rapidly. Minotarumon plowed his hand into the ground, burying it deep underground. The forest floor shook harder than it had ever done before as massive cracks started to appear in beneath their feet and large pillars of rock started to burst from the ground. The Chosen were thrown off their feet by the sudden earthquake and fell flat on the ground; Misha and Missimon were thankfully safe because they were in the air.

Sam groaned, having hit his forehead on the ground when he fell. As he rose to his hands and feet, a great shadow loomed over him, and the American Chosen looked back over his shoulder. Minotarumon breathed heavily – cartoonish clouds of steam exhaling from his snout – extending his right arm to make a grab for Sam. Before the beast could reach him, however, Sunmon floated between them with a determined look in his eyes.

"_**Starlight!**_" Sunmon shouted.

To Sam's bewilderment, a beam of light flew from the flame at the top of Sunmon's head and shot directly into Minotarumon's right eye. The bull-faced Digimon howled like a wounded cow, covering its injured eye with its right hand while swinging its left around wildly. Sunmon narrowly ducked underneath the swinging arm and, sensing it was a good time to run, flew back into Sam's waiting arms. The American Chosen wasted no time shooting back to his feet and making a beeline into the deeper parts of the forest, quickly joined by the other children who followed his lead. They heard Minotarumon's howls getting further and further away as they ran; it didn't seem to be chasing them.

They continued running for at least a few more minute until they could no longer hear the bull-headed Digimon in the distance. Willow and Luca immediately dropped, breathing heavily, Seth leaned against one of the trees, and Sam used his knees to steady himself. The only ones who didn't look tired from their long sprint was Misha, whom Missimon had returned safely to the ground, and Celine, who hasn't even broken a sweat; how ridiculously fit was this chic, Sam wondered.

When he had finally caught his breath, Sam looked down at Sunmon in wonder and said, "What did you do back there? With that crazy light show?"

"That was my special attack," said Sunmon proudly. "All Digimon have them."

"If you guys could fight, why didn't you try to stop that thing when it was about to kill us?" asked Seth.

"Because we're just In-Training level Digimon," said Babydramon. "Minotarumon is a Champion level Digimon. We could fight it to cause a distraction, but we're not strong enough to do any real damage."

"So Digimon have a leveling system, kind of like a video game," said Luca, humming with interest. "Fascinating. What are all the levels you Digimon have?"

"Let worry about that another time," said Celine sharply. "Right now, I would prefer putting some distance between ourselves and that creature back there."

"She's right," said Moonmon. "Minotarumon is slow, but he is stubborn and persistent. He'll try to hunt us down, and he has a great sense of smell."

"Then we keep moving," Sam agreed. "Misha and I saw smoke a little way north, past a river. There might be a house or a village that way. We should check it out."

"W-wait," Willow started before anyone could move. "A-aren't we forgetting so-someone?"

The other Chosen blinked and looked around, doing a mental head count. They had Sam and Sunmon, Celine and Moonmon, Willow and Babydramon, Luca and MetalKoromon, Misha and Missimon, Seth and Pagumon, and…. Celine facepalmed herself so hard, it made an audible smacking sound, dragging her hand exasperatedly down her face.

"Where in the name of the Holy Trinity is Miya?" she groaned.

* * *

Somewhere off in another part of the forest, Miya slowly inched her face close to a bush with purple berries, staring at them skeptically. No such fruit existed on Earth as far as the shrine maiden knew, so she didn't know whether they were good or not. She tried smelling them, but obviously they gave off no scent, so the action was rather pointless. All the while, Chicchimon was sitting off to the side, watching the scene with bland expression. He turned slightly to the left when he though he heard the faint sound something howling in the distance.

"Miya, don't you think we should be getting back to the others?" said Chicchimon. "It's not safe to wander alone, especially in Iliad."

"But I'm not alone," said Miya nonchalantly. "I have you to protect me from any dangerous yokai."

"Y-Yes, well, of course I would protect you," said Chicchimon, sounding flustered with pride. "But still, you children should stick together. I would hate to imagine what would happen if one of you got lost. And, as I keep reminding you, we're not 'yokai', we're digital – "

"I wonder if these taste any good," said Miya absently as she picked a berry, completely tuning her partner out. "Whelp, only one way to find out."

She popped the berry in her mouth without hesitation, biting into it and splashing around the juices. Chicchimon gives her a blank look before he decided to mention, "Those are poisonous, by the way."

Miya performed a perfectly classical spit-take, turning toward Chicchimon for some reason and spraying the little chicken in berry juice. Chicchimon, dripping in purple spittle, gave his partner an annoyed look that said, 'Seriously?'; Miya chuckled sheepishly.

Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise coming from the bushes on their right. Miya stopped low and pulled Chichimon to her chest protectively, the little chicken Digimon leering at the shrubbery like a guard dog, and backed away a few paces. Whatever was on the other side of the bush pushed the foliage away and stepped into the area, standing across from the pair. The three of them exchanged looks and Miya let out a dramatic gasp.

"Why did you gasp dramatically?" Chichimon asked his partner.

"It seemed like an appropriate response," Miya answered simply.

* * *

"Miya, where are you?" Sam cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted. "Yo, Miya!"

"Enough fooling around, Miyata!" Celine yelled in an annoyed tone. "This isn't funny anymore!"

"Hey, shrine girl, ya out there?" Seth joined the chorus.

They had been wandering around the forest for the past ten minutes, but they were nowhere close to finding their missing companion. Celine had suggested that they leave her within the first two minutes, but she was thankfully overruled when the other five voted to keep looking for her – Misha added that they would have done the same for her, which promptly quieted the French chosen. They started to walk north toward the river, hoping the absentminded girl would think to head toward a nearby water source, but the trek made it seem like they were walking in circles. Literally every plant and every tree and every rock they passed was exactly the same as the one before it; Luca was the one who pointed this out when he noticed that two trees had the same indentation in their trunks.

"If this is world really is like a giant computer, then these must be made from recycled data," said Luca, caressing the tree in fascination. "Like copying and pasting from a word document. I wonder if this entire forest is made out of the same data cache."

"As interesting as I'm sure a bunch of plants are," said Pagumon rudely, "shouldn't we be paying more attention to looking for the girl in the dumb dress."

"I don't think it's dumb," said Willow plainly. Sam noticed that the wallflower seemed to speak more easily to monsters than he did to people. "I think she looks kind of cool."

"We're not going to get into fashion opinions," said Celine, grimacing. "In case you've all forgotten, there's still a giant minotaur monster roaming the forest looking for use."

"Don't worry, Celine," Moonmon said soft-spoken. "I'm sure Minotarumon is miles away from us by now. We'll probably never see him again."

"Which means we'll probably be seeing him in the next five minutes," said Sam. "If there's one thing comic books have taught me, it's that you should never assume the bad guy is gone."

"This isn't a comic book, Sam," said Luca, rolling his eyes. "This is real life…well, mostly. We're not gonna – "

All of a sudden, MetalKoromon buzzed on Luca's shoulder, its red eyes flashing like headlights. Naturally, this caught the Hispanic computer expert off-guard; the metal mouse hadn't done anything except sit on his shoulder since the moment he met it. At the same time, there was a sharp rustling noise coming from behind the cluster of trees on their left. Being the closest, Misha approached the trees.

"Private Miya, is that you?" asked Misha. "Come out! You're captain commands you!"

But Luca looked uncertain for a moment. He looked back at MetalKoromon, who had now started to vibrate unpleasantly, then back at the trees. He looked between them one more time until the dots started to connect inside his head. Luca dashed between Sam and Celine, surprised by his sudden outburst, and ran after Misha, shouting, "No, get away from there!"

His warning came too late.

The wall of trees snapped in half and burst outward like an explosion had gone off, throwing Misha ten feet in the air. Luca skid his feet to a halt and held out his arms to catch the Russian army brat, who had flailed her arms in a failed attempt to fly, and fell backwards on his butt from the impact. He looked over Misha, who appeared disoriented but otherwise unharmed, and snapped his head up just in time to catch the sight of Minotarumon stomping into the clearing before he swung his machine hand down on top of them. Just before the hit landed, Seth appeared at Luca and Misha's side so fast it almost looked like he teleported. The Egyptian runner pulled Luca by the arm, grabbed Misha by the collar, and dived out of the way before Minotarumon's hand slammed, embedding his machine arm into the ground. The three Chosen rolled a few feet before Seth skillfully flipped back up to his feet, setting the other two safely on the floor.

"You two all right?" he asked them.

"I think I'm gonna hurl," Luca groaned dizzily.

Misha, on the other hand, fell back and passed out completely.

Minotarumon ripped his hand out of the forest floor, throwing a few boulder-sized bits of earth over the Chosen's heads, and roared like the wild animal that he was. Sam's sharp eyesight spotted that Minotarumon's right eye was puffy and narrowed into a slit from where Sunmon attacked him.

"How did he find us so fast?" Celine yelled, quickly whipping out her sabre.

"He's got a huge nose and he's uber peeved – doesn't take a genius to figure out?" said Sam sarcastically.

"Do – do we keep running or – " Willow stuttered.

"Leave this to us!" Sunmon declared bravely. "We'll take care of him while you guys make a run for it!"

Before Sam or the others had a chance to call them back, their Digimon partners swarmed Minotarumon from all sides, despite the bull man being twenty times their size and was a living wall of muscle. As all six little Digimon came at him, Minotarumon's focus was on Sunmon, no doubt still angry from the sneak attack earlier. He raised his Demon Arm and slammed it down over the tiny sun creature, but Sunmon skillfully hopped to the side to avoid it and launched himself at Minotarumon's face, quickly joined side-by-side with Moonmon.

"_**Starlight/Dark Burst!**_" they shouted in unison.

As the shooting star energy shot from Sunmon's flame, Moonmon took a deep breath and spat out a ball of dark energy. Unfortunately, Minotarumon raised his right hand to block both attacks, which harmlessly dissolved against his leathery skin, and slapped the sun and moon pair out of the air. Sunmon slammed hard into a tree and Moonmon bounced off the ground like a rubber ball; both of them slumped weakly on the ground.

"Sunmon!" Sam cried out in concern.

"What are you doing? You can't fight that thing!" Celine shouted frantically.

"We have to do what we can to protect you!" Babydramon declared, ducking under Mintarumon's swinging arm. "That's why we're here in the first place!"

Mintarumon took another few swipes at the baby dragon, but Babydramon was too small and too small for the giant bull man to hit. As he dodged another swing, Babydramon shouted, "_**Hot Steam!**_" and exhaled a blast of hot gas in Mintarumon's face, causing the mountainous Digimon to shake his head irritably, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Meanwhile at its feet, MetalKoromon was spraying the beast with a shower of iron grains and Pagumon was puffing out bubbles of poisonous-looking liquid. But despite their combined effort, Minotarumon only seemed to be annoyed rather than hurt. And with an infuriated huff, Mintarumon swing his right foot across the ground and kicked both MetalKoromon and Pagumon off to the side, dropping them in front of the group of Misha, Luca, and Seth; the latter two quickly picked up their Digimon partners, who looked too beat up to move.

Babydramon was the only Digimon partner left fighting off Minotarumon, skillfully ducking underneath the bull monster's arm whenever he took a swipe at him. But flying high above everyone's head, Missimon wqas rocketing around in circles, gradually building up speed and momentum. Then, with a cry of "_**Missle Crash!**_" Missimon turned his pointed head down toward Minotarumon's forehead…but somehow missed by a mile and flew into Babydramon instead. The pair crashed into one of the nearby trees, snapping it in half, and the two of them dropped weakly on the ground.

Misha could only stare dumbfoundedly and scream, "What was _that?_"

"Sorry, captain…," Missimon groaned with a weak salute. "I forgot to mention…I have very poor flight control."

And then he collapsed; Misha facepalmed herself.

Minotarumon snorted heavily and looked around their little battlefield. The miniscule Digimon who had foolishly thought they could challenge him were laid battered across the forest floor, too weak to fight back after only a few good hits. His one good eye wanders over to Sunmon – the only one among the harmless specks that harmed him. A growl rumbled in his throat as he leaned forward with his hand outstretched, prepared to crush the little sun between his fingers –

A baseball sized rock flew out and hit him through the slit of his right eyelid, nailing him squarely in his dark pupil. The bull Digimon reared back, howling in pain, as his right hand flew up to his eye. Minotarumon growled and turned in the direction the stone came from, spying Sam standing on the edge of the clearing, casually tossing another rock up and down in his hand with a cunning smirk.

"Bull's eye – literally," said Sam joking before throwing the stone at Minotarumon's head.

The bull Digimon snorted furiously as the rock bounced off his skin, turning his attention away from Sunmon and started moving toward Sam. The American Chosen made a rude gesture at Minotarumon, then ducked underneath his swinging arm and ran off into the trees. The Bull Digimon quickly gave chase, barreling his way through the forest knocking down every tree in his path. The other Chosen, who had rushed forward to collect their Digimon partners – Willow holding both Babydramon and Sunmon – watched Minotarumon's fleeing backside.

"What does he think he's doing?" Willow gasped.

"Getting himself killed, that's what," Celine said through gritted teeth. She turned to Luca and shoved Moonmon into his arm. "Hold her for me, will you?"

"Wait, what are you – "

But Celine had already ran off before Luca could finish asking.

* * *

If Sam was being perfectly honest with himself, he had no idea what he was doing. There was no real plan: he just figured if he made the walking slab of meat angry enough, it would follow him away from the others. Well, suffice to say, it worked…so what was he supposed to do next?

Sam leaped over a large rock and kept running, listening as Minotarumon smashed the same rock under his boots a minute later. For someone who was supposed to be slow, the bullheaded Digimon was doing well to keep up; Sam would either curse the Digimon's long legs or his own lack of fitness. But he soon found he couldn't run any further and ground his feet to a halt at the edge of a riverbank, flailing his arms out to keep himself from fall in. Sam hadn't realized that he had run far enough to reach the river he and Misha spotted earlier, but it turned out to be wider than he had expected and the current was running too fast to safely cross on foot. He looked up and down the river, hoping to see a bridge or something he could cross, but found nothing helpful. Just as Sam considered following the river, Minotarumon burst out of the treeline before him, stomping his feet hard enough to shake the ground.

The American Chosen tilted his head back to meet Minotarumon's one good eye. The bull Digimon looked beyond peeved; Sam chuckled nervously.

You know, we kinda let things get out of hand – spur of the moment thing, you know?" said Sam tensely. "Why don't we sit down, talk it over, maybe over a couple of burgers – " Minotarumon gave him an unimpressive look. "Yeaaah, probably not the best thing to say."

Minotarumon apparently grew tired of listen and decided to swing his Demon Arm down on Sam. The American Chosen barely jumped out of the way before the mechanical limb crushed the rock bed, splashing water and bits of stone everywhere. Sam hit the bank on his knees, causing him to his and briefly curl up in pain. Minotarumon capitalized on the moment as he reached for the redheaded human with his right hand. Just as he was about to close his fist, a sharp cry came from the side and Celine leap out of the bushes, thrusting her sabre ahead of her. She stabbed the back of Minotarumon's hand; curiously, the wound didn't draw blood, which Sam gueesed proved that Digimon didn't bleed like humans. Minotarumon pulled his hand back with a furious cry while Celine flipped forward onto her feet, standing defensively in front of Sam.

"What're you doing here?" asked Sam in awe.

"Saving your life, what does it look like!" Celine snapped.

"And here I thought you didn't like me," said Sam teasingly as he drew himself up to his feet.

"I don't," said Celine curtly; Sam grimaced. "But I'm not heartless enough to leave someone to die."

"Well, I guess it's better than nothing," Sam mumbled, looking back at Minotarumon, who was shaking his injured hand. "So, what's the plan?"

"Don't die?" said Celine, more of a question than a statement.

"Good plan," Sam said blandly.

Minotarumon finally shook off the pain in his hand, clenched it into a fist, and took a sharp jab at the teenagers. Sam and Celiene threw themselves out of the way in either direction – Sam hit the rocks like a runner sliding for third and slid sideways so gracefully she looked like she hovered an inch off the ground. Minotarumon slid his closed fist sideways toward Celine, who effortlessly hopped over the offending limb and slashed at the Digimon's wrist when it flew under her. It only made a tiny cut due to the Digimon's thick hide, but Minotarumon still howled in surprise and pulled back. The bullheaded Digimon huffed in annoyance, started to raise his mecvhanical hand, when yet another rock flew out from the side and, yet again, _stabbed him in the same wounded eye. _Minotarumon bellowed fiercely slapping his palm over the injury, and narrowed his good eye dangerous at Sam, who was holding up two stones with a proud smirk.

"I might suck at basketball," said Sam as he pulled back his hand, "but I was a whiz at Baseball."

He threw both stones, one after the other. The first rock clanged against Minotarumon's nose ring, causing it to shake in a way that must have been painful because the bull Digimon quickly grabbed the ring with a sharp snort. But almost like magic, the second stone flew between the Digimon's barely opened eyelids and smacked his right eye once again. Minotarumon howled louder than he had done all day; the trees behind him quivered. Sam could only imagine what it must be like to be stabbed in the eye repeatedly.

During all the chaos, Celine had slipped in under Minotarumon's blind side and stood behind the Digimon's ankle. The French Chosen took a deep breath, moving slowly into a drawing stance…and slashed her sabre across Minotarumon's ankle in a silvery blur. To Sam's amazement, the hulking Digimon toppled forward and crashed into the ground on his hands and knees, his teeth gritted and his eyes sealed shut in pain. It was hard for Sam not to think that his French companion was actually a real-life Wonder Woman.

He was dragged out of his thoughts, however, when Celine ran up to him and pulled him by the arm.

"Come on, let's get out of here while he's down!" Celine yelled urgently.

"No need to tell me twice," said Sam.

They made a break for the trees as Minotarumon steadily rose to one knee and leered at their fleeing backsides. But before they could reach the edge of the forest, Sam heard Minotarumon's mechanical hand revving up and looked over his shoulder as the Digimon raised it above his head. This time, Sam knew for certain he heard the bullheaded monster speak:

"_**Darkside Quake!**_"

He slammed his Demon Arm into the ground and the ground beneath Sam and Celine's feet immediately shattered. Sam got his ankle caught in a crack and fell forward, smacking his face on the rocks, causing a very painfully headache. Celine yelped as her feet slipped on the unturned earth and gracelessly fell on her back, unintentionally letting go of her sabre and letting it fly well beyond her reach.

The pair groaned as they pushed themselves up into sitting positions, gingerly rubbing what was likely to be a new batch of forming bruises. But minor injuries were quickly pushed out of their minds as a long shadow loomed over them, and they both stared up at the justifiably furious glare of Minotarumon was giving them. The giant bull Digimon pulled back his Demon Arm, not allowing them any chance of recovering, and thrust his mechanical limb forward. Sam and Celine reached out to each other on pure instinct and cried out:

"Sam!"

"Celine!"

"Miya!" Miya shouted cheerfully when she suddenly appeared out of the pushed, Chicchimon pressed securely against her bosom and one fist pumped in the air.

Minotarumon's Demon Arm paused in the air only a few inches away from Sam's nose – the American Chosen commended himself for not passing out right there. The bull Digimon turned his head slowly at the same time as Sam and Celine, all three of them looking at the shrine maiden with varying levels of comical confusion. The way Miya just burst onto a serious scene in such a happy-go-lucky manner was beyond ludicrous, and yet somehow fitting. At least they haven't been pulverized yet, Sam thought. As expected, Celine was the first one to break the awkward silence, shooting Miya an annoyed looked regardless.

"Where have you been all this time?" Celine snapped, somehow ignoring the bull monster only a foot away, much to Minotarumon's bewilderment.

"I was hungry," said Miya simply. "Word of advice, don't eat the purple berries."

"Unbelievable…," Celine groaned.

"Miya, get out of here!" Sam shouted urgently, glancing back at Minotarumon, who was slowly starting to process that there was new prey. "Go find the other and hide!"

"Aw, but I wanted you to meet my new friend," said Miya disappointed.

"I know I'm going to regret this…," said Celine, grimacing, "but what new friend."

As if they had been waiting for a cue, a blur of black shout out of the bushes behind Miya, flying over the shrine maiden's head, and then kicked Minotarumon across the face. The bull Digimon let out a surprised howl as he fell backward, using his right hand to stop himself from hitting the ground. The black blur landed on the rocky riverbank, sliding dramatically across the stones, and struck a pose, drawing all eyes toward them.

The newcomer looked close to human if it wasn't for the whisker marks on her cheeks and the fact that she kicked a twelve-foot bull-man hard enough to knock him off balance. The way she dressed herself resembled that of an Earth nun, except the skirt was _waaay_ to short not to be sinful and the headgear she wore had a pair of beady animated eyes and a pair of cat ears – did those eyes just wink at me, Sam thought. The strange nun waved around a pair of silver handguns shaped like 'T's, cocking them with a flick of her wrist. The scandalous woman-creature-thing smirked in a mischievous way, even as Minotarumon rose to full height and glared down at his attack.

Sam and Celine only stared in awe, not even realizing that Miya was now beside them until she helped them to their feet.

"Who is that?" asked Sam.

"That's Sistermon Noir," said Chicchimon helpfully. "A good-natured Digimon known for extremely cheerful personality and equally deadly fighting prowess. She wields a pair of guns called 'Anthony' and is bit of a wild shot. Be sure to keep your head down when she fires off her Mickey Shot."

"Hey, you walking steak platter, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" said Sistermon Noir challenging…then started walking away. "Let me just go get a stepladder and – "

"Don't leave after you just got here!" Sam shouted incredulously. "Aren't you supposed to be saving us?"

"Oh yeah…," said Sistermon Noir like she had just remembered why she staring down a giant minotaur.

But in her moment of distraction, Minotarumon had stomped over to Sistermon Noir and slammed his fist down where she stood. But Sistermon Noir effortlessly glided sideways without even seeing the attack coming and raised one of her pistols to Minotarumon's wrist before pulling the trigger. Minotarumon pulled back, actually whimpering as he looked down at the smoking hole left behind. Sistermon Noir practically flew up to the Bull Digimon, kicking him in the ankle with force powerful enough to create a small shockwave. Minotarumon dropped down to one knee, but he didn't stay there for long before Sistermon Noir spun around, pressing her pistols under his chin, and shot him pointblank, throwing him on his back.

Even with two smoking holes in his chin, Minotarumon still found the strength to sit up – whether or not it was out of stubbornness was unknown. Raising his Demon Arm, the bull Digimon shouted, "_**Darkside Quake!**_" and slammed his mechanical limb into the ground. Or, at least he would have, if Sistermon Noir hadn't dashed over and kicked the side his Demon Arm, throwing it in the air and knocking him off balance. As Minotarumon flailed his uncontrollable arm around in surprise, Sistermon Noir suddenly jumped onto his chest and got right in his face, pressing the barrels of her pistols to the bull Digimon's head. Sam barely saw the Digimon's eyes grow wide with fear before Sistermon Noir pulled the trigger with a thunderous _bang!_

As stunned silence filled the riverbank; Minotarumon's Demon arm slowly stopped vibrating. Then, after a few seconds pause, Minotarumon's body dissolved into a cloud of colorless particles and dispersed into the sky. Sistermon Noir made a show of hostlering her pistols inside her dress before turning on Sam, Celine, Miya, and Chicchimon. Sam looked like he had been slapped across the face and Celine stared at Sistermon Noir wearily; Miya seemed none too bothered by the scene that had just played out and actually looked awestruck at Sistermon Noir.

"Well, that was a close one, wasn't it?" said Sistermon Noir optimistically, practically bouncing over to them. "Lucky I ran into Miya when I did, or you'd be in a heck of a lot of trouble. Although, I still don't get what a yokai is…" she mumbled to herself as an afterthought.

"I think I'm losing what little shred of sanity I have left," Sam groaned. "First little baby Digimon, then a Hulk with horns, and now the Red Hood in a skirt. What's next – little orange dinosaurs?"

"You saw Agumon?" Sistermon Noir gasped excitedly and started searching the area.

"Shutting up now," Sam groaned.

"She's such a cool Yokai," said Miya, starry-eyed.

"Enough with the Yokai already,' Celine complained.

Miya looked like she was going to say something back to the rude French girl when the remaining Chosen and their Digimon partners appeared, having followed Minotarumon's path of destruction through the forest. Sunmon floated over into Sam's waiting arms and Moonmon bounced out of Luca's over to Celine; the French Chosen didn't pick her up, sadly. Surprisingly, all the Digimon were clean of any bruises – they must be fast healers, Sam thought.

"Sam, are you okay?" Sunmon asked worried.

"Are you injured," Moonmon said in equal concern.

"Where did Minotarumon go?" said Misha, looking around while still being carried by Missimon.

"Who's the hot nun?" said Seth, staring Sistermon Noir appreciatively up and down. He sensed that everyone was staring at his strangely and added, "I'm not ashamed."

Speaking of Sistermon Noir, the strangely human Digimon walked up to the Chosen while they were talking amongst themselves and none of them noticed until she was a foot away from Willow's face. She had a thoughtful expression as she rubbed her chin like something out of a cartoon. She then held up one finger and pointed at the wallflower.

"Willow and Babydramon," she said, before turning her finger on Luca, "Luca and MetalKoromon," then pointed to the next person, naming each of them in turn. "Misha and Missimon…Seth and Pagumon…Miya and Chicchimon…Celine and Moonmon…and Sam and Sunmon…. There should be one more. Where's the boy from Germany…what's his name. Did he get lost?"

"Uh…how do know our names?" Luca questioned in a serious tone. "How did you know we would be here? How are we _here_ in the first place? _Who are you_?"

"Me? I'm Sistermon Noir!" she answered brightly, striking a pose with her hands on her hips. "And I am your new babysitter!"

"….That's hot," Seth added, before Celine smacked him over the head. "Ow!"

* * *

**I always hated the fact that the kids basically did nothing but stand in the background while the Digimon fought, like cheerleaders, or worse, Pokemon trainers. I wanted to make this chapter specifically to show that the Chosen are somewhat capable of handling themselves without having to rely on their Digimon partners for everything, which is why I didn't have them digivolve when the time of crisis came. Don't worry, they'll level up soon enough.**

**And I apologize if the fight scenes seem clunky. Hopefully I do better by the next chapter.**

**So please, read and review.**


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